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FROM 



RUFUS B. BULLOCK, 



OF GKOT^GIA, 



TO THE 






IN CONGRESS WHO SUSTAIN V Cf^ ^l^*d 



THE RECONSTRUCTION ACTS. 



WILLARD'S HOTEL, MAY 21, 1870. 







W ASIIINGTOX : 

("FLKONICIyE PRINT, 511 NINTH STKIOKT, 

1 870. 




LETTEK 



FROM 



LLOCK 



,0 



t 



CDF" 0-E]0P^OI^^, 



^fO 



The Republican Senators and Representatives 



IN CON^GRESS AVHO SUSTAI^T W/«. 




THE RECONSTRUCTION ACTS 



DATED 



WILLARD'S HOTEL, MAY 21, 1870. 



WASHINGTON: 

CHRONICLE PKINT, 511 NINTH STREET. 

1870. 



4 

- To the Republican Senators and, Represen- 
tatives in Congress who sustain the re- 
■^ construction acts: 

Gentlemen: I regret that duty to 
myself personally, and to my official po- 
sition, requires that I should address 
myself in this manner to those with 
whom I am politically associated. My 
reasons for so doing are found in tlie 
following extract from a speech made 
by the honorable Senator from Connec- 
ticut, Mr, Ferry, on the 17th instant: 
" But I do say that had Georgia for 
the last two years been in the hands of 
men of high patriotism; if it had been in 
the hands of men who were looking to 
the welfare of the nation instead of their 
own pecuniary advancement, we might 
have had a different state of things 
there from what exists to-day." And 
also in the conclusion arrived at 
by four Eepublicans and one Demo- 
cratic member of the Judiciary Com- 
mittee of the Senate that in paying D. 
C. Forney, the publisher of the Chron- 
icle, bills as rendered for printing 
pamphlets, extracts, and speeches on 
the Georgia question, I did "use im- 
proper means to influence the vote of 
Senators upon the Georgia question." 

Were these the production of Demo- 
crats, neither my voice nor my pen would 
be raised to notice them ; coming from 
Republican sources, they are worthy of 
notice. 

In noticing first the allegation of Sen- 
ator Ferry, "that had Georgia for the 
last two years been in the hands of men 
of high patriotism, if it had been in 
hands of men who were looking to the 
welfare of the nation, instead of their 
own pecuniary advancement, we might 
have had a different state of things 
there from what exists to-day," I woijld 
say that from my stand-point I can fully 
concur with the Senator in this state- 
ment, from the fact that for tJie last 



two ye^rs, or at least until the 20th of 
January last, Georgia has been in the 
hands of a rebel Democratic legislative 
organization. But as the remark is evi- 
dently intended to apply to the Repub- 
licans of that State and to myself, as 
the head of the State government, I 
shall refer to a few historical facts for 
the purpose of establishing the injus- 
tice, to use the mildest form of expres- 
sion, which is done by the Senator to 
the Republicans of our State and to 
myself by his remark. 

On the 4th day of July, 1867, a con- 
vention met in Atlanta to organize a Re- 
publican party in our State, in opposi- 
tion to that kind of Republicanism 
which claimed Andrew Johnson as 
its chief. That convention resolved 
to sustain the reconstruction acts 
of Congress, and to endeavor to 
establish a government for the State 
under and by virtue of those acts. 
It was a small beginning, and the men 
who participated in that organization 
were surrounded by all the malignity of - 
rebel hate, inflamed and embittered by 
the endorsement of the convention in 
favor of the enfranchisement of the col- 
ored men so lately their slaves. And 
the little band who thus bravely met 
were threatened on all sides and their 
lives were by no means secure. 

In JS'ovember of the same year an elec- 
tion was had to decide by a vote whether 
a convention under the reconstruction 
acts should be called, and at the same 
time for the election of delegates to the 
convention should its call be ratified. 
In this election the Republicans of the 
State were successful. The convention 
was called, and during the winter of 
1867-'8 a constitution was framed in 
which there is no sign of proscription, no 
test oaths, no disfranchisement. All 
men of sound mind, who have not been 
convicted of felony, and who are twenty- 



one years of age and residents of the 
State, are under it entitled to vote and 
to hold office. 

In April, 1868, the constitution was 
submitted to a vote of the people, aad, 
at the same time, under an ordinance of 
the convention, an election was held 
for the officers provided for in the new 
constitution, a Governor and members 
of the General Assembly, who, by vir- 
tue of the ordinance, were declared to 
be provisional officers, and who, if au- 
thorized by the commander of the dis- 
trict, were to enter upon the discharge 
of their duties as such, and were to con- 
tinue provisional until the State was re- 
stored to the Union, Avhen they would 
enter upon their terms of office as pre- 
scribed in the constitution. This cam- 
paign resulted in the ratification of the 
constitution, and in the election of my- 
self and a General Assembly, whose 
members, as elected, were very evenly 
divided between the Republican party, 
the party favoring the reconstruction 
acts, and the Democratic party, the 
party opix»sing those acts. 

Under and by virtue of the act of June 
25, 1868, the General Assembly convened 
on the 4th of July of the same year. 
Among those elected by the opposite 
party there were at least thirty who were 
especially prohibited by the act of June 
25, and by previous acts, from holding 
office, they being disqualified by the 3d 
section of the fourteenth amendment. 
This fact was earnestly pressed upon the 
attention of the commanding general by 
myself, as will be shown by the published 
report of the military commanders and 
of the Judiciary Committee of the Sen- 
ate. Notwithstanding this presentation 
of facts, however, the commanding gen- 
eral deemed it wise to make no objec- 
tion to those members retaining their 
seats, and the Legislature thus orga- 
nized in violation of the law, having 
gone through the form of adopting 
the conditions then required in the 
reconstruction acts, the State, by mili- 
tary order, was remanded to the civil 
government thus established. 

In September of the same year this 
legislative organization excluded from 



their seats some twenty-eight of its 
members, who were of African descent. 
At this point the contest originating 
from the enfranchisement of the col- 
ored men was renewed with all its 
bitterness. While the question of this 
expulsion was being considered by the 
Legislature, I, in an official communi- 
cation, impressed upon them, in 
the strongest terms which I was capa- 
ble of using, the great wrong wliich was 
about to be perpetrated, and, of course^ 
thereby stimulated a renewal of our po- 
litical animosities. Earnest appeals 
were made to me by frightened and dis- 
couraged Eepublicans to acquiesce in 
this outrage, and offers of high political 
preferment and adr'ancement were indi- 
rectly tendered to me by the opposite 
party to effect the same object, accom- 
panied by threats of the vengeance that 
would be visited upon me if I did not 
accept their terms. 

Upon this state of facts I submit to 
the honorable Senator from Connecti- 
cut, and to the Eepublicans of Congress 
who have sustained the reconstruction 
policy, as to whether "high patriotism" 
and the "'welfare of the nation," or my 
"own pecuniary advancement" weretlie 
moving causes in this political situation. 

Notwithstanding my protests and ap- 
peals, however, the Legislature persisted 
in maintaining the expulsion of the 
colored members. And information of 
the fact that the reconstruction act» 
had been disregarded in the organiza- 
tion of the Legislature by allowing 
thirty or more disqualified members 
to be seated, and the evil results 
which had follov/ed this failure to 
execute the law in the expulsion of the 
colored members from the organization, 
M^as transmitted by myself in a formal 
xnanner to Senator Morgan and Repre- 
sentative Schenck, in whose hands was 
left the question of a session of Congress 
between its adjournment in July and it& 
regular assembling in December, with 
the request that should a session in the 
meantime be had the matter should be 
laid before Congress. As is well known, 
no session took place, but on the 
assembling of Congi'ess in Decembei:, 



I formally presented the facts hereto- 
fore referred to. And from that 
hour until, upon the recommendation of 
our firm and patriotic President, the act 
of December 22 was passed, by which 
this defianee of the reconstruction laws 
was rebuked and the outrage perpetra- 
ted under cover of it redressed, I have 
been instant in season and out of season 
in using every proper means within my 
power and control to bring facts bearing 
upon the matter to the attention of Con- 
gress. 

During this terrible struggle of nearly 
two years, when delegations of men 
from Georgia who had been true to the 
Union, men native and to the manor 
born, have presented tliemselves and 
their grievances here at the feet of Con- 
gress, surrounded as they were at home 
by threats of vengeance and of violence, 
their assassination publicly recom- 
mended in the newspapers, the hope 
published that they might "perish by 
the v/ayside," and that " Georgia should 
be no more cursed by their hated pres- 
ence" — followed, as all this was by the 
prompt murder of several of them as 
they passed on the highway from the 
railroad station to their own firesides — 
let me ask again of the distinguished 
Senator from Connecticut if " high pat- 
riotism " or "looking to the welfare of 
the nation" would have caused me to 
press on, or whether my ov,rn "pecuniary 
advancement " would not have been 
largely secured by surrendering to our 
enemies ? No, gentlemen, the Senator 
but repeats the slanders and misrepre- 
sentations which have been heaped upon 
myself and the Republicans of Georgia 
during all this contest. I have the 
charity to believe that the Senator has 
been misled by these misrepresentations. 
But be assured there is no "pecuniary 
advancement " in the line of strict ad- 
herence to Republican principles, and 
the measures involved in the reconstruc- 
tion policy of Congress in Georgia. For- 
tunate, indeed, is he who saves his life, 
even though he lose that which to every 
man should be dearer than life, dearer 
than pecuniary advancement— his good 
name and fame. 



If away out on the confines of civiliza- 
tion a settler is threatened in his cabin 
by the prowling bands of Indians, troops 
are at once moved, money is lavishly 
spent, and the whole country is aroused 
for his protection; but, on the other 
hand, if white and black friends of the 
Union are whipped and murdered in the 
South by prowling bands of disguised 
Kuklux, the President is prevented from 
granting protection because the laws do 
not authorize him; and when men or 
delegations ceme to the capital from the 
South to plead with Congress for help 
and for their rights, haste is made to put 
them under "investigation" with the 
vain hope that the lies of interested 
rebels may have some foundation in fact. 
Are Southern Republicans beyond the 
pale of protection or justice? Is the 
odium which we have incurred from 
rebels because we have supported your 
measures to be upheld here to bar us 
from your approval? While we risk our 
lives and our property, will you aid in ' 
taking from us that which is dearer than 
all these — our good name and our repu- 
tation? These are serious questions, 
and the answer is anxiously looked for 
by every Southern Republican. 

Now, gentlemen, permit me to invite 
your attention to the finding of a ma- 
jority of the members of the Judiciary 
Committee, And, riglit here, kt me ex- 
press my grateful thanks to the minority 
of the committee who had the manliness 
to express their convictions, and to say 
"that Governor Bullock has acted honor- 
ably and fairly throughout the whole 
controversy." 

The Legislature of Georgia having or- 
ganized under the act of December, and 
in strict conformity with the previous 
reconstruction acts, adopted the several 
conditions required by Congress, and 
elected Senators. Application was made 
for the admission of the State into tlie 
Union. Upon this the Reconstruction 
Committee of the House of Representa- 
tives reported a bill for the admission of 
Georgia precisely similar in all respects i j 
to those by which Virginia, Mississippi, 
and Texas were admitted. This bill 
was and is entirely satisfactory to the 



6 



republicans of Georgia. But, upon tlie 
bill being presented to the House of Ee- 
presentatives, an amendment was 
added, by the votes of a minority of 
the Kepublican members united to the 
solid Democratic vote, which seeks to 
restrict the full effect of tlie reconstruc- 
tion laws, and to give to the revolution- 
ary Democrats who revolutionized the 
Legislature of 1868, the full benefit of 
their action at that time. When the bill 
came to the Senate with this restriction 
upon it, a majority of the Judiciary 
Committee of that body made haste to 
report upon it favorably, the bill, I be- 
lieve, having been received late in the 
evening of one day, and reported favor- 
ably the next morning. I believed then, 
and I believe now, that the effect of the 
amendment to which I have referred is 
plainly and undoubtedly to hand over 
the Government of Georgia to the con- 
trol of the very men who so earnestly 
and so viciously opposed the reconstruc- 
tion measu.res of Congress through- 
out the campaigns which T have 
before spoken of, and to surrender into 
their care and keeping all tlie republican 
features of our new constitution, which 
are as yet dormant and inoperative — the 
school system, the jury system, the regis- 
tration systein for fair elections, &c. 
In this view I am fully sustained by the 
Republican organization in our State, 
and by every individual member of the 
party except not exceeding a dozen men, 
who, from motives which are plainly 
apparent, find their interest and their 
"pecuniary advancement" in iiniting 
with the opposition. Believing this and 
being fully sustained by the party 
which elected me, 1 felt it my right 
and my duty to use every proper means 
to place before Congress and the country 
the real situation of affairs. And in 
doing this I have been careful to avoid 
exaggeration, and to state only the 
literal truth. I have challenged, and I 
now again challenge, a successful con- 
tradiction of any statement put forth by 
myself or upon my authority, or in fact 
by any'member of the Republican party 
in our State, which is not, or was not at 
the time, fully sustained by the facts. 



The Republican party in Georgia in 
the terrible ordeal through which they 
have passed have been the recipients, 
as have the loyal organizations in all the 
other Southern States, of the warm, con- 
tinuous, earnest, and effective support 
of the Republican organ at the capital. 
There is no newspaper published which 
so much attracts to itself the affection- 
ate regard of the loyal masses in the 
South as the Washington Chronicle. 
Its firm adherence to Republican princi- 
ples; its exposure of the political treach- 
ery of Andrew Johnson; its masterly 
support of the articles of impeach- 
ment against him; its manly main- 
tenance of Southern Republicans 
against rebel slanders; its hearty 
support of our State organizations 
against the attacks of our op- 
ponents under various disguises claim- 
ing to be Republican, Conservative Re- 
publican, &c. , has given to it an influence 
in the South which no other newspaper 
in the country can wield. 

But I am censured by the majority of 
the Judiciary Committee in that I did 
use improper means to influence the 
votes of Senators on the Georgia ques- 
tion by paying to the Wasliington 
Chronicle prices which I have since 
inquired into and believed to be fair, 
just, and reasonable for printing, pub- 
lishing, and circulating speeches, &c. 
This is the sum of my offending in in- 
fluencing the votes of Senators. 

Were the friends of "free trade" or of 
"protective tariff" ever censured for 
publishing arguments, speeches, or sta- 
tistics, as using improper means to in- 
fluence the votes of Senato)-s? 

IS'ow, gentlemen, permit me to invite 
your attention to what in fact has the 
appearance of being an attempt to use 
" improper means to influence the votes 
of Senators" in an opposite direction. 

On Monday afternoon, the 18th of 
April last, the evening of the next day 
having been fixed by agreement to take 
the vote in the Senate on the Georgia 
bill. Senator Edmunds stated in the Sen- 
ate that he had been informed that an 
effort had been made to influence the 
votes of Senators on the Georgia bill by 



/ 



corrupt means; and offered a resolu- 
tion which was adopted, instructing the 
Judiciary Committee, of which lie is a 
member, to investigate the charges. 

As it was obvious that the investiga- 
tion could not be made and concluded, 
and the result announced before the 
vote was to be taken the next day, and 
as the rumors to which he referred 
had been in circulation in Washington 
for more than a week before that time, 
it seemed to me that the resolution re- 
quiring an investigation should have 
been offered several days earlier, or 
should have been deferred until after 
the vote was taken; and that its intro- 
duction at that time did influence the 
vote on the Georgia bill. 

The most atrocious lies and insinua- 
tions had been telegraphed from Wash- 
ington to different parts of the country, 
and circulated among members of both 
houses, to the effect that I had attempted 
to influence the votes of Senators by of- 
fers of Georgia bonds or money, and 
every possible means had been employed 
to create prejudice against myself and 
the Republican party of Georgia who were 
asking for the admission of the State 
without the Bingham amendment. 

These infamous lies have a common 
origin, and have been coined and put 
into .circulation by men who hypocriti- 
cally pretend to belong to the Republican 
party, but who are, and have been, act- 
ing in concert with the rebel Democracy 
in Georgia. 

For two years in Georgia I have been 
pursued by threats of personal violence 
and assassination, and, during that 
period, my friends have believed that 
my life was in danger. For two years 
I have been pursued by the most vil- 
lainous slanders that rebel ingenuity 
could invent, charging corruption in 
office, personal immorality, and in every 
way impeaching my character as a man 
and an officer. One after another these 
slanders have been worn out and aban- 
doned only to be renewed in some other 
form. Every attempt to sustain any one 
of them, and in every instance, has 
proved an utter and shameless failure. 
lu January, 1869, after I had made an j 



application to Congress to restore the ex- 
pelled colored members to their seats, 
and, after a previous denunciation for 
oflicial corruption, a committee of the 
lower house of the Georgia Legislature, 
composed of twenty-four Democrats and 
three Republicans, made an exhaustive 
examination to find, if possible, some 
ground upon which to prefer charges 
against me for impeachment, but finally 
reported back a resolution to the effect 
that they could find nothing affecting 
my oflicial or personal integrity. 

I have said these assaults have a com- 
mon origin. So far as the assaults which 
have been- made here are concerned, they 
are directly traceable to Mr. Joshua Hill. 
'As to the motive of Mr. Hill, it is well 
known that he is one of the Senators 
elected by the Legislature which re- 
tained in its organization the thirty or 
more disqualified men, all of whom voted 
for Mr. Hill, and afterward expelled its 
colored members, and that the adoption 
or the rejection of the amendment asked 
for by his Democratic constituents will 
affect favorably or unfavorably the legit- 
macy of his election. And it is equally 
as well known that while he claims 
special consideration for having been op- 
posed to secession and a Union man at the 
outbreak of the rebellion, yet during the 
height of the contest he was a candidate 
for Governor of Georgia, and published 
a letter during that candidacy in which 
he denounced Mr. Lincoln as an Aboli- 
tionist, stating that he believed the war 
was being prosecuted for the abolition 
of slavery; that he wanted and would 
have no restoration of the Union under 
such circumstances; that he did not op- 
pose the administration of Jeff Davis 
or the prosecution of the war; on the 
contrary, that the best blood of his kin- 
dred had been shed in the contest, and 
that he had not denied them his support. 
It is also well known that, since the close 
of the war, he has not in any way pub- 
licly supported the reconstruction meas- 
ures of Congress, but, on the contrary, 
has expressed himself in opposition to 
the enfranchisement of the negro. It is 
also a fact not so well known that a man 
living in Georgia, who named his child 



John Wilkes Booth in honor of the assas- 
sin of onr martyred President; a man 
who, according- to the affidavits of two 
responsible witnesses, said that "he 
would cut Bullock's heart out before he 
should ever be allowed to take his seat 
as Governor," and who, when an order 
was issued by the military for his arrest, 
escaped from Georgia and came to Wash- 
ington, and is now liere, as t understand, 
prosecuting a claim for cotton taken by 
the United States during the rebellion, 
and who, by his own repeated statement, 
is a member of the Kuklux organization 
— this man, loith thin record^ made an ap- 
plication for the removal of his political 
disabilities; and this written application 
bears the favorable indorsement and re- 
commendation of Mr. Joshua Hill, who 
in his indorsement says that he has 
known him for many years as a reliable 
and worthy citizen, and hopes that his 
political disabilities may be removed by 
act of Congress. Mr. Hill was a member 
of Congress before the rebellion; he 
sought office under a State in hostility to 
the United States, and gave aid and com- 
fort to its enemies; yet in a published 
letter he admits having twice taken 
the test oath 1 1 Such is the record of 
the gentleman whose "high patriot- 
ism" seems to commend itself to the 
favorable attention of certain Senators. 
By an examination of the evidence as 
published by the Judiciary Committee 
in the late investigation, it is established 
that the whole affair is founded upon 
the machinations of Mr. Hill. The evi- 
dence discloses that one Mr. Porter 
called upon Mr. Hughes, as he says, for 
the purpose of ascertaining how certain 
Senators were likely to vote, and inti- 
mating or asserting that money or bonds 
could be realized if the probable vote of 
the Senate could be known in advance. 
This conversation was communicated 
by Mr. Hughes to Mr. Hill, with the 
statement that he (Mr. Hughes) thought 
he (Mr. Hill) "had some interest in 
the subject." Mr. Hughes desired to 
have no further conversation or com- 
munication whatever with Mr. Por- 
ter in this matter, but Mr. Hill in- 
sisted that Mr. Hughes should meet 



Mr. Porter a second time, and draw 
from him whatever lie could that might 
be useful to him. Mr. Hill having in 
this manner obtained a report upon 
which to found a suspicion, the evidence 
next discloses that he sought to obtain 
for it publicity through one of the re- 
porters of the Kew York Tribune, but 
failing in this, it was sent to a Western 
paper. The reporter of this paper having 
been examined by the committee, states 
upon oath that he had no knowledge of 
any improper means being used; that he 
heard so. On being still further pressed 
he states; "I heard that railroad bonds, 
indorsed by the State of Georgia, to the 
amount of $10,000 had been oifered to a 
Senator to secure his vote against the 
Bingham amendment," and, after close 
questioning, he admits that he heard it 
from Mr. Joshua Hill, and is unable to give 
any other source from which the report 
originated. As an evidence of the frailty 
of the foundation upon which the inves- 
tigation was inaugurated, I quote the 
following question asked of this repor- 
ter: "Q. You may state what you have 
heard, as that may put us on the fracfc." 
By the examination of Mr. Hill it is 
disclosed that he knew "of some publi- 
cation which had been made by a party 
with whom I [he] was familiar. One of 
the publications I [he] was consulted 
about; the others I [he] was not. They 
were in the shape of pamphlets. They 
were published generally in my absence;" 
and that he gave Mr. Bryant some money 
to assist him in the printing that lie had 
done. In reply to a direct question if 
he had heard by report of any offers 
of money or efforts to use money in any 
way, and if he could put the committee 
01% the track of any information on the 
subject, he answers: "I doubt whether 
I have any information beyond what 
the committee is in possession of. I 
have never heard of any money being 
used or attempted to be used except in 
a matter that was communicated to me 
by Judge Hughes, and another matter 
that came to my ears in regard to a gen- 
tleman to whom I have never spoken in 
my life, and whose name, I think, is At- 
kinsoa. I will go a little further, and 



say that I did hear a rumor that Gov- 
ernor Bullock had in this city drawn for 
a good deal of money, a good many 
thousands of dollars, how many defi- 
nitely 1 could not learn. I do not think 
I know anythinrj eJse about it.-'' Then 
follows the question: ''Q. In the same 
connection, did you hear what he [Bul- 
lock] did with the money he drew?" 
"A. Iflid not.'" In answer to the ques- 
tion if he knew of any money being 
raised for Bryant and others that came 
here from Georgia, he answers: '' Yes; I 
have heard from various sources and 
have seen it in the public press that the 
J)emocro,tic party were employing liry- 
ant,'''' &e. 

A correspondent of the Baltimore 
(razette. who had made a direct statement 
in liis correspondence published in that 
paper, charging me with bargaining for 
the votes of Senators, being sworn and 
examined, states that he had no knowledge 
on the .•iithjert whatever, except from a 
newspaper dispatch which he saw in a 
Richmond paper. In reply to the direct 
inquiry, if he could give any information 
or knowledge that would put the com- 
mittee iqjon the trace of any fact going to 
show that improper aneans had been 
used, his answer was. " No. .sir. L r/o not 
think rroidfl.''' 

This, then, is the fiimsy foundation 
upon which the Senate was asked to 
authorize an investigation. And here 
the question becomes i)ertiuent as to 
whether the means used to influence the 
Senate to order an investigation pending 
the vote on that subject, by those whose 
interests were to lie advanced by the 
adoption of the Bingham amendment, 
were not. not only " ini])roper," but in- 
famous V 

Whatever else may happen tome, I shall 
leave the office of Governor of Georgia 
with clean hands, and without having 
performed any act for which iny children 
or my friends shall liave occasion to 
blush, Vnit with my private fortune 
greatly diminished by the heavy ex- 
penses to which I have been subjected 
to sustain myself and the loyal men of 
Georgia. 

The rebel Democracy of Georgia and 



their agents here supposed that by 
breaking me down they could break 
down or greatly injure the Republican 
party of that State, and tliereby prevent 
Congress from taking any steps to sus- 
tain the loyal men, and hen3e the terri- 
ble ordeal through which I have passed. 
But, gentlemen, I confess to you that 
I have been deeply discouraged by 
Republican Senators and Representa- 
tives at Washington repeating and giv- 
ing credence to the vile slanders of 
rebels and renegade Republicans, and 
seeming to be anxious to find evidence 
with which to justify them. 

It is possible to conceive of a state 
of facts which would justify the 
Judiciary Committee of the Senate in 
sending for my private banker in At- 
lanta and examining the state of my 
personal account; but when that was 
done to find out some charge against me, 
if possible, when every other attempt 
had wholly failed, I can not help regard- 
ing it as an infringement of my per- ' 
sonal rights, and as unjustifiable and in- 
defensible. Such extraordinary zeal by\ 
Republicans to assail the integrity of a \ 
Republican Governor in a State like ' 
Georgia, who is struggling with the 
elements of rebellion and violence, be- 
cause the party differs from them in 
opinion as to what should be done must 
excite the astonishment of fair-minded 
Republicans throughout the country. 

But I will dismiss the subject of the 
"investigation" by saying that every 
dollar used by me in my private or pub- 
lic affairs while in Washington was my 
own, and in amount was not the half 
of what I have spent first and last for 
the Republican cause, and was all 
duly explained to the "Committee"— 
and by quoting the following extracts 
from the report of the majority, in which 
they have the economical fairness to say: 

"Governor Bullock's testimony shows 
* ts. * * * * * ^i^j^i- j^Qgi- ^£ ^Y^^^ 

speeches and papers for which he paid 
were sent and distributed in Georgia ; 
that, with the exception in round num- 
bers of the four thousand dollars paid 
the Chronicle office, and the five hun- 
i dred paid the Globe, and the fourteen 



10 



hundred dollars Toaned the colored men, 
the balance of the fourteen thousand five 
hundi-ed dolhirs drawn by him while in 
Washington was used about his own 
private affairs, (the expenditure of the 
larger portion of whicli he explained to 
the committee,) and without any refer- 
ence whatever to legislation ; that he did 
not know any person by the name of Lewis 
Porter ; that such a person might have 
been introduced to him, and he miglit 
know his face were he to see him ; bit 
that he never heard, except from what 
he had seen published in the papers, of 
any attempt through him, or any one 
else, to influence a Senator." 

I am opposed to what is known as the 
Bingham amendment, or any proviso 
substantially like it, because it seeks to 
deny to the Kepublican party in Georgia 
the fruits of the political victory that 
they have achieved after the terrible 
trials of the past two years of contest; 
because it seeks to restrain the full 
, effect of the literal execution of the re- 

: , construction acts in such a manner as 
; to promote the interests and the wishes 
of the very men and the very party who 
have persistently, and by every conceiv- 
' able means and meanness, sought to 
defeat those acts; because its adoption 
will be a rebuke to, and will destroy, 
the Eepublican organization which 
has maintained those acts and sup- 
ported the administration and the 
party in our State, and because 
any attempt to hold an election there for 
members of the General Assembly be- 
fore those already elected liave enjoyed 
their constitutional term of two years 
as a State in the Union under the new 
constitution, will result, in the utter 
abandonment by them and by the party 
of any furtlier attempt to uphold and 
maintain the policy which a Kepublican 

\ Congress has inaugurated, and which it 
would thus be shown a Bepublican Con- 
, gress has abandoned. 

In this connection, the following ex- 
tract from the Savannah Morning J^^eirs, 
a leadingDemocratic journal of Georgia, 
of the 19th instant, is important: 
We agree with our able cotempnrary of the 



Columbus Sun that the compliment paid by 
the correspondent to the white people of 
Georgia is deserved. Tliey have from the 
inception of this business given Radicalism a 
fight that it was totally unprepared fot. It 
was in the orijjinal programme that Georgia 
shoidd be reconstructed first. This was a 
tacit acknowledgment of her power and in- 
fluence. But Georgia would not and will not 
be reconstructed radically save at the point 
of the bayonet. If the other Southern States 
had followed her lead in place of compro- 
mising as Virginia and Mississippi have done, 
the Radical party would have been beaten at 
every point in tlie coming can>paigns. 

I will not deny that this result would 
bring peace to Georgia; but it would be 
the peace of death. Republican princi- 
ples would be abandoned forever, and 
the 106,000 loyal men who voted for and 
carried the convention and the constitu- 
tion would be heard from no more. 
There is no "amnesty" with rebels for 
men in Georgia who have dared to be 
Republicans and to sustain measures 
which enfranchised the black man. 
There is no "•relief from the disability," 
except in death, in submission, or in 
flight. 

Gentlemen, the issue is before you. 
Your friends ask for the prompt admis- 
sion of the State of Georgia on terms 
precisely similar to those which were 
adopted for Virginia, Mississippi, and 
Texas. The conditions required of 
those States have been performed by us. 
Under this action by Congress AVe 
will, during the term for legislation 
which is prescribed in the new con- 
stitution for the General Assembly, give 
full force and effect to the great and 
living principles of universal freedom 
engrafted upon our new constitution by 
securing the privileges of free education 
and of a free ballot to all citizens. 
Deny this to us, withhold it from us, and 
neither of these results will follow, but 
the responsibility for the sacrifice 
of the reputation, the lives and the 
property of the men who have been de- 
stroyed for daring to uphold your meas- 
ures — responsibility for the utter de- 
struction of Republicanism in Georgia 
will be with yourselves and not with us. 

RuFus B. Bullock. 
Willakd's Hotel, Washington, May 

21, 1870. 



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